GNU Info

(cvsbook.info)I get an error about val-tags; what should I do?

---

Next: I am having problems with sticky tags; how do I get rid of them? Prev: When I do export -d I sometimes miss recent commits Up: Some Real Life Problems (With Solutions)

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

I get an error about val-tags; what should I do?
------------------------------------------------

If you see an error like this:

     cvs [export aborted]: cannot write /usr/local/myproj/CVSROOT/val-tags: \
        Operation not permitted

it means the user CVS is running as does not have permission to write to
the CVSROOT/val-tags file.  This file stores valid tag names, to give
CVS a fast way to determine what tags are valid.  Unfortunately, CVS
sometimes modifies this file even for operations that are read-only with
respect to the repository, such as checking out a project.

This is a bug in CVS and may be fixed by the time you read this.  Until
then, the solution is either to make val-tags world-writeable or,
failing that, to remove it or change its ownership to the user running
the CVS operation.  (You'd think just changing the permissions would be
enough, but on several occasions I've had to change the ownership, too.)